On Noise and Litter

After a harsh winter, we all were glad to have a few warm spring days recently. But then some of us remembered what comes with open windows and more people spending time outside - noise and litter.

Regarding the latter, at the Arbor Day event Mayor Adrian O. Mapp got involved in a dialogue with a pre-schooler about what to do with candy wrappers and such. His advice was to keep them in a pocket if necessary until they could be put in the trash. The child countered with his mother's advice - throw them out the car window. It is always tricky to tell a young person his parent might be in error, but how else to instill a sense of social responsibility?

The lack of regard for the community is all around us, in the paper cups stuck in bushes, discarded plastic bags caught in trees, bottles and cans on lawns. Sometimes trash is dumped just steps from a receptacle, such as the ones downtown that PMUA maintains through "shared services" costs paid by all property owners. Routes to and from the schools are noticeably more littered that other places.

Anti-litter campaigns led by mayors have come and gone. Harold Mitchell deputized schoolchildren with badges to fight litter, and cleanups were a standard feature of the McWilliams administration. But each new generation apparently needs to be taught by someone, if not by their parents, not to drop or toss stuff just anywhere.

Noise is another urban hallmark that I for one could do without. Yesterday for the first time since my health went downhill I was able to spend a couple of hours sifting compost. I was listening to the radio on earphones while I shoveled the compost out of a bin and sifted it to a fine, rich top dressing for the garden. A neighbor turned up his car stereo to window-rattling volume, overwhelming the radio and setting my nerves on edge. I knew better than to ask this rather surly person to turn down his sound, because he does it to annoy and would either yell at me or be perversely pleased to know he was causing someone else discomfort.

Both noise and littering are actually forms of aggression and disdain for the common good. They can be minor, such as just tossing a wrapper out of a car window, or major, as in the individual who feels he is entitled to knock your socks off with his loudspeakers while he cleans his car. If people don't agree on what constitutes social norms, a disjointed community is what you get. Anti-litter campaigns would be less necessary if the person holding the litter did not just drop it anywhere, and maybe our nerves would not be so jangled if others kept their decibels to themselves instead of inflicting them on the neighborhood.

Ah, Spring! A time for birdsong and flowers, or a reminder of the incivility that comes with warm weather? We all, young and old, have a choice between selfish disregard for the community and agreement to respect our neighbors and neighborhood. Which will it be?

--Bernice